LET THERE BE LIGHT
Miracle menorah brightens Gaza darkness
A miracle menorah that has come to symbolize Jewish perseverance has made its way to the front lines of Israel’s war against Hamas.
The historic piece is famous for an iconic 1931 photo taken by Rachel Posner, a Jewish mom of three who lived in Kiel, Germany. The defiant snapshot shows the menorah on a windowsill, all eight candles lit, as a Nazi party flag flies ominously outside.
This past Sunday on the fourth day of Hanukkah, Posner’s great-grandson Raziel Gilo, a 35-year-old Israel Defense Forces reservist, brought the menorah to the Gaza border to inspire his unit.
“We face a brutal and terrifying enemy that wants to destroy Israel,” Gilo told The Post. “This enemy doesn’t separate a religious Jew from a non-religious Jew. They want to kill every Jew because he or she is a Jew — exactly like the Nazis tried to do.”
‘Judah forever’
His great-grandmother Rachel, along with her rabbi husband and three young children, lived across from Nazi headquarters in Kiel and were forced to flee Germany by 1933. They arrived in Palestine in 1934 during Hanukkah — escaping persecution with the simple brass menorah in tow, as well as Rachel’s photo.
On the back of the photo, she wrote what her granddaughter Nava Gilo now calls “prophetic” remarks: “Death to Judah — so the flag says/ Judah will live forever — so the light answers.”
Since 1974, when Posner sent the picture to a Kiel museum, it’s become an iconic symbol. Dani Dayan, the former consul general of Israel to New York and current chairman of Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial, previously told The Post that he posted the photo of the menorah on his social-media channels every year for Hanukkah.
Last year, Nava, who lives in the central Israel town of Rehovot, and her brother, Yehuda Mansbach, brought the menorah to Germany for the first time in nearly 90 years, meeting with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Berlin to light it on the second day of Hanukkah.
It’s usually displayed at Yad Vashem except for Hanukkah, when the Posner family brings it to one of their homes and Mansbach takes it to Israeli schools to share “our important history and message” with kids, said Nava. “It’s very important that it’s not stuck in my generation.”
“It’s amazing the difference between the last Hanukkah” and this year, said Nava. “This Hanukkah there is a new dimension to the story. The war reminds us that we still have a long journey, but we take it with head high held and with great belief. As my grandmother wrote: ‘Judah will live forever.’ ”
‘Have to destroy evil’
This year, Nava’s son, Raziel, a rabbi for his unit, asked to take the menorah with him to a base near the Gaza border where, on Sunday, he drew the treasured family keepsake from his backpack and shared the story of its survival.
“In order to continue our humane life, we have to destroy evil. We cannot accept or swallow it — we have to destroy evil,” Raziel told his troops as he lit the candles. “In these days we see it in such a clear way that, if we don’t win, the darkness will swallow us.”